Free piston fountain pen



Sept. 8, 1964 G. A. RUBISSOW FREE PISTON FOUNTAIN PEN Filed March 15. 1961 INVENTOR WW United States Patent 3,147,741 FREE PISTON FOUNTAIN PEN George A. Rubissow, 420 Riverside Drive, New York 25, N.Y. Filed Mar. 15, 1961, Ser. No. 107,877 Claims. (Cl. 12047) This invention refers to a new type of magnetically operated fountain pen having an ink receiver and having a free piston provided with ball-bearings mounted therein which free piston is, according to this invention, either made from a material capable of being attracted by a magnet, such as for instance iron, steel, aluminum alloys, or is made from a material which itself is a magnet.

In this specification and drawing like references refer to like meanings.

FIGURE 1 is a cross-sectional plan view diagrammatically showing one embodiment of this invention.

FIGURE 2 is a cross-sectional side view of FIG. 1 along 2-2.

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional side view of another embodiment of this invention.

FIGURES 4, 5, 6 and 7 are cross-sectional diagrammatical side views of various embodiments of free pistons.

FIGURES 8, 9 and 10 are cross-sectional side views of a ball used for the free piston.

FIGURE 11 is a cross-sectional side view of a ball used in valve-means.

In FIGURES 1 and 2 is shown the casing 20 of the fountain pen with a safety cap 21 mounted upon this casing, the pen nib 22 and the pen nib holding member 23 mounted in this casing 20. Thesafety cap 21 is afiixed by screwing means or by sliding engagement means to the casing 20. The pen nib holding member 23 is provided at least with one ink channelling means 24.

According to this invention, the inside of the casing should be so made that its walls are parallel to its axis of symmetry XX, for instance made like a cylinder as shown in FIGURES 1, 2 and 3; inside of this casing 20 is placed a free-piston 25 made at least in part from a material which is magnetically attractable or which itself is a magnet. One thin elastic washer 26, or more than one washer, could be attached to the free piston 25 and its outer diameter should be just such a one, that it will provide a good suction in the cylinder 20A of the casing 20 when the piston is moved therein to-and-fro for pumping the ink into it, or for emptying it.

The piston should be additionally provided on its periphery with at least one ball-bearing having at least three balls angularly symmetrically displaced around the symmetry axis XX. In FIGURES 1 and 2 are shown two rows of such bearings, each having 4 balls (if desired, only three balls could be used, as shown in FIGURE 3).

This fountain pen works very simply: if the magnet 29 is placed outside of the casing (which for this purpose should not be made from steel or iron, but from a plastic or from a non-magnetic material or metal), then the magnet 29 will pull the piston in the direction in which it is moving itself. If the magnet will be moved from left to right following the arrow 30, FIG. 1, then the piston will. as well be urged to move in the same direction and will produce accordingly a suction effect (or an expelling effect if moved in the direction of the arrow 30A).

One of the embodiments of the free piston provides a free piston having at least one washer made from elastic or nonelastic material which best resists a corrosion from the ink. The washer or the washers should provide the necessary tightness between the free piston and the inner walls of the casing 20. Such washers could be made of latex, polyvinyl plastics, silicon containing latex, silicon containing plastics, corkwood and mixture of corkwood 7 3,147,741 Patented Sept. 8, 1964 with binders. The washers could also be made from glass or thin metal sheets, hard plastic or nylon.

One of the main embodiments of this invention is to provide the piston with one or two, or three, or more elastic washers; the elasticity of these washers should be such, that the dimensions of the diameter D26 of such washers 26, FIG. 6, will be very slightly bigger than the diameter D20A of the cylinder 20A, and that at the same time the diameter D28 between the outer rolling surfaces of the balls of the bearings (FIGURES 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6) will be very slightly smaller than the diameter D20A of the cylinder 26A. Such an arrangement will permit the magnetic action, exercised by the magnet, to attract the piston part 45 to the casing 20, and by so doing the ball will roll on the inner surface of the cylinder 20A while at the same time the contact edges of the washers will be very slightly compressed when contacting the casing, and this only to a desirable degree of compression and not more than needed. The edges of the washers could not be over compressed because the difference between D28 and D20A is very small and a limited one. If the pen nib is immersed into an ink bottle then the suction caused by the moving of the piston in the direction of the arrow 30 will suck the ink from the bottle into the ink receiver.

In FIG. 4 the piston 31 has two washers 26, two bearings 32, bearing-balls 28 and the valve-means 33 having valve-ball 34 adapted to close by suction of the ink a conical cavity 35 and its opening 37 communicating with a conduit 36 provided in the piston when the piston is moved from right to left, i.e. in the direction of the arrow 30, FIG. 1. Either the rings of the bearings 32 upon which the balls are mounted, or the central body 38 of the piston 31, or both of them, may be made from a magnetically attractable material, or each may be a magnet, and thus a magnet 29, FIG. 1 or 2%A, FIG. 3, placed outside the casing 20, will attract such a piston placed inside of such a casing and will move it longitudinally in said casing. Two washers 26 per one piston are shown in FIGS. 4, 6 and 7, but only one washer in a piston could be used, and placed for instance between the two rows of ball bearings or outside of them.

In FIG. 5 is shown a piston 39 provided with 3 washers 26, two bearing rings 40 (made of glass or silicon containing material), balls 28, a body 41 (made of magnetically attractable material or being itself a magnet). Vents or bleeders 42 could be provided in the piston.

In FIG. 6 is shown a piston 43 having two washers 26 and two bearing rings 44 made of plastic or glass and valve-means comprising a conduit 36 and a valve-ball 34. The central body of the piston 43 may be made of two parts, part 45 made of magnetically attractable material or being itself a magnet, and part 46 which is made from plastic or any suitable material.

The elastic washers 26 are affixed on each side of the piston 43 for instance by gluing them to the bearing rings 44 or by any other known means. Screening means 47 (FIGS. 4, 6 and 7) could be provided separate from the-washers 26, or thewashers themselves may have a plurality of holes 48 in its central part to form ascreen as shown in FIGS. 5, 6 and 7.

If and when bleeders or vents 42, FIG. 5, are used in a piston the total area of all the cross-sections of such bleeders 42 should be not more than the total area of all the cross-sections of all the channeling means 24 FIG. 1. Such an arrangement will permit a pumping of the ink with a sufiicient working efiiciency.

When a valve-means having a valve-ball 33, FIGS. 4 and 6, is used, if and when the pen will be inclined as is the case when it is for instance immersed in the ink bottle, the valve-ball 34 will obligatorily place itself down- Ward and will thus seal the entrance opening 37 of the conduit 36. When the piston 25 is pulled by the magnet in the direction of the arrow 30 to the position shown in dotted lines by 25B, FIG. 1, then the magnetic attraction will move the piston accordingly creating a suction action inside of the casing 20 and will thus fill the inner of this casing with ink. If the piston will be moved in the direction of the arrow 39A, the ink from the fountain pen will be evacuated. The use of this piston construction will prevent the piston from becoming stuck to the cylinder.

In FIG. 7 is shown a piston similar to the piston described in FIG. 6 but having its central part 46A made of a plastic in which powdered iron is embedded.

The valve-ball 34B being a weak magnet whereby said ball is thus urged by a small magnetic force to the conduit 36.

In FIG. 8, the bearing ball 28A is a hollow ball.

In FIG. 9, the bearing ball 28B has an inner part 28C made of metal and an outer part 28D made of glass.

In FIG. 10 is shown a bearing ball 28E made of plastic.

The bearing balls 28, 28A, 23B and 28C shown in FIGS. 4, 8, 9 and 10, and the valve-ball 34 shown in FIGS. 4 and 6 could be made from any suitable material, for instance from glass, plastic, plastic containing silicon, nylon, vinyl and metal or metal alloy. If desired the bearing rings, or their balls themselves, or the piston body or all of them could be made from magnetically attractable material, or be themselves a magnet.

In FIG. 11 is shown a valve-ball 34A which is hollow and has inside of it an inner ball 34B of substantially smaller diameter than the inside diameter of the ball 34A. and thus this inner ball 34B has a degree of freedom in the hollow of the ball 34A.

The inner ball 34B should preferably be made from a heavy specific weight material such as for instance tungsten or lead, and thus it will act as a hammer, when the fountain pen is moved strongly in one direction or another. Such an inner hammering action will then exercise a force upon the outside of the ball and if it was stuck previously it will then be unstuck from the valve conduit due to such hammering action. The ball 34A could be replaced by mercury in liquid form if desired.

The bearing-rings 40, FIG. 5 could be separated from the body 41 of the piston 39, or the periphery of the piston may serve itself as bearing-rings.

The magnet could have the form of a circular ring 29 (FIGS. 1 and 2) or it can be a magnet having about a 195 overlapping circumference (29A, FIG. 3), or it could be a magnet placed for instance in the safety cap 21, (29B, FIG. 1). Any type of magnet could be used.

The piston 25 could consist of one part made from magnetically attractable material or being itself a magnet, as for instance the part 45 in FIG. 6 or 7, while the other part, such as for instance part 46 in FIG. 6, could be made of plastic, wood, corkwood, glass or any other material, preferably a material which is not attractable by the ink.

What I claim is:

1. A fountain pen having a casing with a free space therein constituting an ink receiver, a pen-nib holding member, at least one channeling means provided in said pen-nib holding member, and a pen-nib: in combination with a free piston movable to and fro in said casing, said free piston being provided with a least one washer and with at least one row of ball bearings around its periphery made from a magnetically attractable material, whereby when a magnet is placed outside of said casing and is moved longitudinally along the symmetry axis of said casing, the attraction force exercised by the said magnet will move the said free piston from between forward and rearward positions and produce a pumping action, movement in the forward direction providing an expelling stroke of said pumping action in the rearward direction providing a suction stroke respectively, for expelling the ink and/or the air from said ink receiver or for filling it with ink by sucking the ink through said ink channels in said pen-nib holding member from an ink bottle in which said pen-nib is immersed.

2. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said material is of the group of iron, steel, aluminum alloys and a plastic in which powered iron is embedded.

3. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said free piston has a least two ball bearing rows each row comhas at least three balls, and has a least one ink conduit provided in said piston, and valve means at one end thereof and maintained thereagainst in conduit-closing position during the suction stroke of the piston and displaced from conduit-closing positionduring the expelling stroke respectively, said valve means or said ball being a weak magnet whereby said ball is continuously attracted by a small magnetic force to said ink conduit.

6. A device as set forth in claim 3, such ball bearings being made from glass and being mounted in plastic bearing rings.

7. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein at least a part of the material of said free piston is a magnet.

8. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said washer is made from elastic material of the group of latex, rubber, nylon, artificial and natural plastics, mixture of silicon with plastics or nylon, thediameter of said washer being at least equal and preferably very slightly bigger than the diameter of said cylinder.

9. A device as set forth in claim 3, wherein, said washer is made of elastic material of the group of latex, rubber, artificial resins, natural resins, plastics, nylon, glass, metal, corkwood and corkwoodintermixed with binders.

10. A device as set forthin claim 1, wherein said piston is provided with a least one longitudinal bleeder interconnecting the two opposite sides of the piston, the total area of cross-sections of said bleeder being smaller than the total area of cross-sections of said channels.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 578,054 Ferris Mar. 2, 1897 2,492,058 OConnor Dec. 20, 1949 2,557,634 Cox June 19, 1951 2,734,485 Millas Feb. 14, 1956 

1. A FOUNTAIN PEN HAVING A CASING WITH A FREE SPACE THEREIN CONSTITUTING AN INK RECEIVER, A PEN-NIB HOLDING MEMBER, AT LEAST ONE CHANNELING MEANS PROVIDED IN SAID PEN-NIB HOLDING MEMBER, AND A PEN-NIB: IN COMBINATION WITH A FREE PISTON MOVABLE TO AND FRO IN SAID CASING, SAID FREE PISTON BEING PROVIDED WITH A LEAST ONE WASHER AND WITH AT LEAST ONE ROW OF BALL BEARINGS AROUND ITS PERIPHERY MADE FROM A MAGNETICALLY ATTRACTABLE MATERIAL, WHEREBY WHEN A MAGNET IS PLACED OUTSIDE OF SAID CASING AND IS MOVED LONGITUDINALLY ALONG THE SYMMETRY AXIS OF SAID CASING, THE ATTRACTION FORCE EXERCISED BY THE SAID MAGNET WILL MOVE THE SAID FREE PISTON FROM BETWEEN FORWARD AND REARWARD POSITIONS AND PRODUCE A PUMPING ACTION, MOVEMENT IN THE FORWARD DIRECTION PROVIDING AN EXPELLING STROKE OF SAID PUMPING ACTION IN THE REARWARD DIRECTION PROVIDING A SUCTION STROKE RESPECTIVELY, FOR EXPELLING THE INK AND/OR THE AIR FROM SAID INK RECEIVER OR FOR FILLING IT WITH INK BY SUCKING THE INK THROUGH SAID INK CHANNELS IN SAID PEN-NIB HOLDING MEMBER FROM AN INK BOTTLE IN WHICH SAID PEN-NIB IS IMMERSED. 